


Deals

by AgeandTreachery



Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Harry Dresden as a Father, Karrin Murphy is a Badass, Vaguely Post-Skin Game, Wish Fulfillment, en media res
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2020-09-07 18:14:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20313856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeandTreachery/pseuds/AgeandTreachery
Summary: Harry Dresden comes to Karrin's house with Maggie for shelter mid-Dresden Disaster (TM).  He is hip-deep in fairy shenanigans and Maggie has been dragged into the target zone. Harry and Karrin finally do something about all that unresolved tension.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time showing my writing to...well anyone. Gentle criticism is welcome but please be kind. I own nothing, these characters are Jim Butcher's. I too live in the Hari/Kari trash pile. I have my own suite.

I woke up with Maggie drooling on my shoulder and Karrin Murphy curled under my arm. Everything hurt. A stiff, bone-deep ache mixed with an emptiness in my soul. I felt drained, and I knew that if I could see myself with my Sight there would be bloody chunks missing from my spirit. I could also feel the healing from being near my daughter and my....well my Murph. For a moment, I forgot the complications and uncertainties with the woman next to me and tightened my arm around her. I felt her warmth, her solid, steady weight, and her deep even breathing. I tried to memorize it all, then I gently slipped my arm from around her sleeping form and forced myself up from the couch. I carefully brought Maggie into Karrin’s small, tidy bedroom, and laid her down and covered her up. Her eyes fluttered and her hand stayed clasped to my shirt. “Daddy?” she murmured her voice a question and a plea. My heart melted to marshmallowy goo. That particular moniker was still very new. 

“Sleep, sweetheart. I’m right here in the next room.” I stroked her dark curls and softly called for Mouse, who had followed us down the small hallway. He hopped up and settled in beside my daughter. Even in my pain and my fear I could feel the warmth spreading through me that signaled right and home. Still, I couldn’t stay there. I had three days to make an impossible plan work. I had not been afraid of losing her since a few days after I found out she existed. Perhaps I feared that she might lose me, but not that I would lose her. It was a worry that wouldn’t let go and haunted the hollows of my mind taunting me. As was typical, Mab had me right where she wanted me, and I’d have to do her dirty work...again. Maggie curled into a little ball surrounded by Mouse and shivered. Abruptly I became aware that Winter was a little too close to the surface and the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees. I closed my eyes and forced down the fear and the love, bottling it up in a box in my mind and drawing closed a curtain. It was still there shifting behind the curtain, but farther away. In the corner of my mind, a sarcastic asshole tried to tell me that it was becoming too easy to do that. I ignored him. 

I stretched and found my way to the bathroom. I washed up, avoiding my reflection. Finally, I faced myself. A nasty, yellowish-green bruise bloomed across my left jaw, a cut was healing on my lower lip, and I was sporting more scruff than fashionable. Overall, it could be worse. But of course, I was avoiding my eyes, which I knew would be sunken, distant and bloodshot. 

I took a shaky breath and told the man in the mirror. “Pull yourself together, you idiot.” But he just stared back defiantly. I truly was infuriating. I heard Murphy moving in the hallway. 

“Harry?” Her voice floated to me gently and I was drawn to her comfort. I felt selfish for it, but all I wanted to do was curl myself around her comforting warmth again.   
I drew a shuddering breath and replied, “Here, Murph.” I opened the door slowly. 

“You look like hell,” she said with a quirked smile. “Come sit and I’ll make coffee.” She raised her fingertips to my face grazing my cheek.   
I caught her hand in mine and looked her in the eye for a second before carefully shifting my gaze to the bridge of her nose. “Murph…” I struggled for a few seconds and then decided on a practical, direct conversation over a complex and involved one. “I want the hard stuff or nothing at all.” 

She grinned and padded into the kitchen, returning quickly with a Coke in both hands. We sat and drank directly from the cans. I leaned back onto the couch and tried to think, but my brain stubbornly refused to budge. The edges of several plans flitted through my mind, but they were all dead ends. Finally, I surrendered to the mental brick wall I had been hurling myself into. I opened my eyes and found Karrin seated across from me cleaning two guns. One was a SIG Sauer, and one was my .44. “Murph, why are you cleaning my gun?” 

She cocked a gold-blonde eyebrow at me. “You think in your way, and I think in mine,” she said as she finished. She began putting away her kit and waited expectantly.   
I closed my eyes against her gaze, tipping my head back again. “Karrin, I want you to take care of Maggie. Now that Michael is...,” I paused unsure how to finish that sentence, unsure of the truth and dreading the possibilities. Eventually, I simply avoided the topic. “I think she’d rather be with you for now if I don’t come back for a while. You're her legal guardian anyway.” I felt her sink into the cushion next to me. 

“Dresden,” she placed her hand over my heart and leaned her head onto my shoulder. It was an oddly intimate move for her, but it felt natural for me to bring my arm around her waist and clasp her hand in mine. “You know I would protect Maggie to my last breath.” I squeezed her a little not acknowledging the clench in my chest as she continued. “But I think the best way for me to do that is to be at your back.” She took a deep breath and let it out before saying, “If you tell me I will be in the way and the spooky is beyond my level… I’ll remind you that I helped you storm the Vault of Hades.” She spoke with an edge in her voice, “but, I will stay out of the way.” 

She shifted next to me, deciding something. Then I felt her slide onto my lap, straddling my legs and holding my shoulders gently but firmly. “Harry,” my eyes opened and I looked at her in surprise but didn’t move. “I don’t know what you expect from me, but I’m not a woman that will be content behind a barrier waiting for news. I am also tired of pretending we aren’t something more. We said we were going to discuss it. And,” ran her callused fingers lightly over my temple, “ And I am worried. You are pulling away again.”

I was frozen in place. There were important things to talk about, but Murphy was sitting on my lap like some wet dream I would have had in high school. Hell, who am I lying to, I would have had this dream last night. Her black tank top fit her very well and her olive tactical pants left a small patch of skin visible on her back. I knew this because, unbidden, my arms had wrapped around her body and my hands had found that bare skin was very interesting. Traitors. She flushed slightly at the attention and other parts of me began a full-fledged revolt against my better judgment. “Stars and Stones, Karrin,” I sighed, relishing the golden warmth trickling through my body, “we both know there are a hundred reasons not to add this complication to our lives.” My voice came out a little huskier than I intended. 

“Not complicated, just hard to do, like lifting a car engine,” she threw words in my face that I had used with her a couple of years ago. “You already know how I feel,” she took a shuddering breath sliding closer to me. “I know that you feel something close to that for me,” her voice was dark velvet and I couldn’t keep my eyes from her lips. Something close to that? I’ve been ass over kettle for you for years. But...it’s not smart. “Complications are inevitable,” she said moving an unruly lock of my brown hair out of my face. “So I’ll make you a deal. You tell me when to stop.” Her eyes glinted and her mouth pursed waiting for an answer. I heard the provocative challenge in her voice, and that primal part of me that didn’t entirely belong to the Winter Mantel growled a response that sounded a bit like hunt, fuck, kill, live. Another part of me howled back - protect - and the violent stirring ceased. 

“Karrin, you should really be more worried. This is dangerous; I could hurt...”. She abruptly put me in some sort of armbar. I literally choked on my own words. She released me quickly. 

“You were saying?” I swear she purred with satisfaction. For some reason, I was more aroused. Stupid libido. “I am worried, but not for the reasons you think.” She moved her body until it rested pressed against my front… and against my impossible-to-conceal erection. She didn’t even blink. Hell, she smiled. “I’ll be gentle with you, Dresden. All you have to say is ‘no’.” 

“Then, I think I’m in trouble,” I retorted closing the space between our lips. She tasted like sweet soda and mint with a hint of oil. It was good and felt right. She was gentle at first; not tentative but easy and slow. I let her lead while I followed eagerly. She moved against me and I moaned low. Her small hands moved deftly to the hem of my shirt and I leaned forward allowing her to remove it in one smooth motion. Merely by coincidence, the motion put my mouth in dangerous proximity to Murphy’s neck with an excellent view of everything southward. I brushed my lips against the curve of her shoulder and wandered upward to her neck. I could swear it was incidental contact. I could swear the way she let her head fall back and shivered had nothing to do with the way she suddenly ended up shirtless and braless on my lap, lightly callused hands exploring my skin in sensitive places. I could swear it, but I would be a liar. Gods above she was beautiful in my arms. 

Somewhere on the periphery of my vision, I noticed the lights flare and then fade. I noticed I could see Karrin’s breath blending with my own in the suddenly chilled room. My breathing was fast and my heart raced. Some rational part of me screamed a warning. I had to slow down, or the whole place might spontaneously combust with only the power of my sadly, sadly neglected libido. Not to mention that dream a few months ago. With every shred of willpower in my possession, I push Murphy back farther on my lap. She voiced her objection, but I held firm. The lights resumed normalcy as I caught my breath and forced myself to look anywhere but Karrin Murphy’s strong, gorgeous body. 

“Damn it, Dresden, what now?” She was cute when she was angry. 

“Please, I want to do this the right way,” I said with more hoarseness and desperation than I intended. “And...” I hesitated before I finished in a rush, “and I’m afraid of this. I’m afraid to have more to lose. I’m afraid to let go because the best I have right now is hanging on…” I dropped my head trying to ignore her toned legs straddling me. “Bad things happen when I let go Murph. When I lose control, people die. The people I love get hurt or...” Looking back into her blue eyes for a brief moment, I sighed before casting my eyes down again falling across the knee I knew to be scarred just beneath the pants and her arm with its many crisscrossing stitches. “You have already been hurt too much on my account.” 

There was a smile in her voice when she replied. “What part of our history together leads you to believe I’m afraid of ‘dangerous’? My time as the only female Sergeant on the force of SI? Or maybe it was standing toe-to-toe with fairies in the Nevernever? Oh, the sparring practice with Vikings?” She placed her hand on my chin and gently tilted my face toward hers. I complied but dropped my eyes as was my habit with Karrin. “Besides, I made my own decisions every time. Harry, it’s just me,” she said steadily. 

“Karrin, I need you to do something for me,” I leaned my head against her. “I need you to Soulgaze with me.” I felt her take a deep breath and hesitate.   
Most people with whom I had soul-gazed in the past have had less-than-positive reactions. They usually come away frightened and wary of me. Susan had fainted, and that had been years and several scars and nightmares ago. Looking at another’s soul was a daunting and complex thing, even if you weren’t a scary warden of the White Council currently in possession of the Winter Knight’s mantel, and former holder of a blackened Denarius. Oh, and I had an Outsider’s mark. That’s Outsider with a capital “O”. Most of my experience with soul-gazing had fallen under two categories. 1) one or both parties were too young to have aversions to eye contact or 2) I needed to know some serious shit and I didn’t have time to use other means. Still, I hadn’t forgotten the dream I had last year. I hadn’t forgotten how powerful and tricky certain enemies who wanted me dead could be. I needed to know beyond any doubt that it was just us here. 

I was unwilling to show her how afraid I was. I didn’t want her opinion of me to change. My soul was going to be much darker and more deeply marred than I wanted her to see. She certainly wouldn’t want this anymore. But… but she needed to know before we did this. For me, if we crossed this line there was no turning back. She had no idea how broken I really was. I thought of her in my arms in my bed, then forced myself to let that hope fade. It had been a night filled with excessive amounts of loss already. It seemed it wasn’t over. 

“If you will do this for me, Karrin,” I sighed into her neck and she shivered. “I’ll make you a deal. If you still want me after this, all you have to say is yes”. I pulled myself back again and looked into her eyes. She didn’t look away this time and neither did I. 

One second...two...three…four… Abruptly I was looking into her. At first, she flickered in and out. A small girl with white-blonde hair, dressed for a funeral tears dried on her cheeks, a small silver shield clutched in her hands that would never be enough. A young woman, defiant and in love on a courthouse step. Receiving her badge with pride radiating from her face. Wearing the black band of mourning. Standing on a bridge in broad daylight facing a troll. Strolling in a familiar dress toward a familiar dock. Bent alone at a grave angry and disbelieving. Images began rushing past in blurs then. Until I everything stopped and became clear. 

She looked like herself, dressed casually in a white shirt and dark pants. Her badge hung around her neck, as had once been her habit, and that black band of mourning was still firmly in place. She was well armed and her eyes were warily canvassing the area. I could see the scars on her, across her breast, across her hands, even on her back. Behind her there stood a house very similar to her own, but with many more rooms. Some of the rooms were brightly lit and I could make out people in them. I recognized a few silhouettes. Maggie was there, the Carpenters, several of her friends on the force, even her ex-husband and her sister. I felt a small surge of something that could be jealousy if I looked at it hard enough. Some rooms were dark and still. Still, others had glass windows blown open and dark red blood stained there. I looked away from those. I knew what those meant; I had my own. In different places along the fence line, I notice veiled figures in defensive positions, Michael, a few of her friends from the force. A bit further away I saw the shadowed figure of Thomas and a shaded Kinkaid. There were others but I didn’t have time to look. I heard a rushing behind me and turned to see Karrin take up her firearm and aim it at the noise. Things moved in the darken Chicago streets, dark things, beautiful and powerful things dripping with blood, hideous monstrous things followed by screams. Karrin barked orders to her allies and set her jaw the way she always did when she had made up her mind to not be moved. Then behind the small woman at the gate to the house, I noticed another figure in shadow. He was a broad, tall man in a duster whose magic swirled around him like wind and fire. I knew it was me. I knew I was protecting the house and those in it. I watched as Karrin Murphy moved between danger and the veiled figure of me and took a protective stance. She was protecting my flank. The fire of determination in her eyes. Tough as nails my Karrin Murphy. She was shielding me, the big scary wizard that could kill her by looking sideways, armbars be damned. The line between brave and crazy was a thin one. “We all do crazy things..” The words drifted back to my memory, and I smiled despite myself. 

I felt drawn to her, and I noticed something I had not before. There were subtle, dark gold-threaded cords that sprang from Murphy and connected themselves to the veiled version of me. Hundreds of them, other lighter colored strands branched off toward the house. Some of the cords had been broken and repaired multiple times, sometimes with more wire, others with tattered duct tape. I came closer and leaned in examining them, but as I did, Karrin seemed to notice me. She shouldn’t have seen me in the soul-gaze, but she wrinkled her adorable nose and reached out a hand to touch my face, confused. On reflex, I reached back softly brushing her face at the same time her hand met my cheek. I didn’t know what touching in a soul-gaze would do. 

Instantly we were both thrown from the gaze reeling. There were tears beneath my hand and I closed my eyes as I realized my cheeks were wet, too. I quickly wiped her tears clearing them from her bright face, she still hadn’t said anything. Her eyes were wider and dilated at the pupils. I gently gathered her into my arms and hugged her against me. “It’s okay, Murphy,” I sighed, “I’ll go get you some water and you can rest.” I withdrew a little. It was to be expected; it had been too much. 

“Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden,” she said softly pushing my shoulders back down to the couch. The words were like striking a tuning fork as my True Name issued from her lips. My body rang with it. She had no power to put behind the Name, no force or compulsion. Nevertheless, my entire being responded to her -- attentive and waiting. Her breath hitched as she felt the touch of the Name as well. The tension in the air was immediate. Her blue eyes found mine and held them without hesitation. There was steel there, determined and set, but also a vulnerability she usually didn’t show. “Yes,” she said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little more smut before we get to some plot*. 
> 
> *"Plot" is subjective and I cannot be held responsible for the writing Gremlins that live in my brain. I swear I only watered them once!

She raised her hand to my face and gently tilted my jaw leaving an inch between her parted lips and mine. Did she really want me after that? She waited for me, her eyes searching for answers to questions I kept hidden in boxes behind curtains in my mind. Something deep within me broke open and thawed. Something I didn’t know I’d been holding back, rushed out of me. “I love you, Karrin.” It wasn't the first time I had told her I loved her, but it was the right time. Her eyes brightened and a brilliant smile bloomed on her lips. 

“Well, now that we’ve established that I love you, and you love me,” she said in a low caramel tone, “what are you going to do about it?” I didn’t miss that she had said the actual words, rather than an oblique acknowledgment. 

I met her lips softly. I felt my body relax as I surrendered. It wasn’t something I did typically. But Karrin Murphy was in my arms, warm and wanting and asking me to love her… or to let her love me. I wasn’t sure which, or whether it mattered. I couldn’t say no to her; I didn’t want to. I put my hands under her strong thighs and lifted her pulling her closer while she deepened our kiss teasing me with her tongue. She withdrew momentarily only to take my bottom lip into her mouth and bite gently. I let my hands move over the curve of her hips to her muscled back. One hand nearly spanned her breadth; sometimes I forgot how small she was. I let my scarred left hand linger there supporting her lightly, while my right hand trailed up to the curve of her soft breast. Karrin tipped her head back sighing at the contact. I could see all of her pale, strong upper body arching in response to my touch. My arousal was painful at the sight of her, and I was vaguely grateful for the sports shorts I wore rather than my usual dark jeans. She noticed me watching and crooked her mouth in a sideways smile. Easing out of my hold, she stood confidently before me. She made eye contact with me, and unfastened her belt and pants, stripping out of pants and underwear efficiently. Her small graceful body displayed for me created a haze in my mind, and I’m not sure exactly what happened next. I found myself divested of my remaining clothing, and Karrin allowed me to lay her down on the soft carpet before the fireplace and explore her. 

She was responsive to me arching to my touch and guiding my attention to her preferences. I was vaguely aware that the few lights in the room had died, shorting out as I released control little by little. The light of the fire created dancing shadows as Karrin moved beneath me. I memorized her with my tongue. Her smell and her touch flooded my senses. She hummed a low “Yes,” in approval, as she wrapped her legs around my bare torso. She was muscle and sinew wrapped in silk and velvet. I was stunned by her, by the way she felt molded to my body, by the strength and grace in her movements. It was a fire in my veins, and I was burning too fast.   
I pushed myself up and away from her trembling and gasping for breath. “Slow down, love,” I heard myself pant closing my eyes and turning my head away. She went still beneath me. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. She relaxed a bit and gave me space, but brought her strong hands to my face to turn it back to her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth had a small, but genuine smile. 

“Okay,” she sighed. Slowly trailing her hand through my hair and down my neck. She soothed me with her touch. I watched her face as she watched the path of her hand. Her thumb brushed my mother’s silver pentacle necklace which swung from my neck between us, then the exit wound of the bullet that should have killed me. Her index finger trailed a path down to the long scar running jaggedly along my stomach ending just above my right hip. Then she went lower. My heart fluttered like a moth with a broken wing. “Harry,” she said her voice tender. “You should know, I want you. Damn your code of chivalry. Will you be here with me tonight?” Her hand was warm against my hardness. “And whatever you can spare after tonight.” She waited for me patiently, her face filled with want and love. 

“Yes,” I said and released the final hold between us. The fire rolled through my veins again, hurtling me into the unknown as I locked her lips to mine. When I took her, she was ready. It felt so searingly good, I was nearly undone. She stiffened for a moment, her eyes dazed, looking into mine. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye falling quickly into her golden hair. Before I could absorb that information she began moving against me and I lost my ability to reason. She was everywhere and I tried to focus on one thing at a time. I felt the pressure of her climax begin and came undone with her. She let me rest for about 10 minutes before she began touching me again, drawing an immediate response. 

I don’t know how long we found pleasure and comfort in each other’s arms. We fell asleep tangled together on the under a blanket in her guest room, my head on her chest her arm cradling my neck while my arms encircled her waist. It didn’t matter that my feet hung off the bed or that sirens wailed outside. The court and the sidhe and their damned politics could wait. For this moment, it only mattered that we were safe and sated. For tonight, I left tomorrow’s trouble for tomorrow and took joy where I could find it. And it was beautiful. And it was dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairly short chapter, but there is more coming very soon. Reviews feed the writing Gremlins. Not sure if that's good or bad.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we hear from Murphy and another strong female force in Harry's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Lovelies! Thank you for the comments. I am currently dealing with real-life stuff and didn't update as quickly as I'd like, but here it is anyway. The plot has arrived a bit more forcibly and she's kind of a bitch.

I was not surprised when Harry Dresden came to my house for shelter and help. He had done so many times before. It always made my heart happy to offer protection. His trust meant more to me than he knew. Harry had always been wry, but since he had been saddled with the Winter Mantle, his moods were mercurial slipping between sullen and angry on most days. And those were the days I actually saw him. I hated this business with Fairy. I missed his know-it-all smirk and stupid references. I missed the sound of his sharp laugh and the way he told me stories. And God I missed his touch. It had been two months since our conversation at the hospital. The issue remained achingly unresolved until last night. When he had come by before tonight, he had kept a reserved distance. Respectful, formal, very un-Harry Dresden.  
Last night he had been more himself. I lit my fire in the hazy late winter evening when he came knocking with Maggie under his duster shivering. He had warded my house with some basic spells years ago, but he buffed them before gathering Maggie into his arms and letting her sleep while he filled me in. Damn the fae and their bargains. My dearest friend had a white knuckle hold on his life and, I feared, his sanity. Despite the distance and the formality that he was using to keep control, I saw the wild look in his eyes. I knew he was worn thin.  
I had fully intended to push his boundaries where I was concerned, but I hadn’t intended to do it then. I hadn’t expected everything that happened after that. It wasn’t Winter, Harry could do dark and brooding way before Mab ever darkened his nightmares. His fucking martyr complex deserved its own apartment. It was just him, at least primarily. At least for now.  
Whatever my initial intentions had been, we were here now. Here happened to be in my spare room curled against his large frame while he softly snored. Dawn broke gently through my windows casting orange-pink spotlights on his sleeping form. Even splayed in sleep, the tall man’s legs stretched akimbo across my queen-sized bed. He had a peculiar way of making everything else seem small around him. Yet, I never felt weak in his presence. Early in our relationship, he’d irked me when he tried to pull the chivalry act on me. Then I figured out it wasn’t an act. I found pleasure in defying his expectations, and I found his respect addictive. When he looked at me with admiration, I wanted to be everything he thought I was. When we met, I had been instantly attracted to him. Angular, strong features with dark lively eyes were all paired with a lithe, strong body and an absolute razor blade of wit. He was my perfect poison. I wanted him, but casually. He wanted me, but not casually. It was simply practical for us to keep things professional. Except that it wasn’t just professional, then it wasn’t just friendly. We were both immense morons.  
The first time we kissed he tasted of salt, incense, and something bittersweet like dark chocolate. Back then, I had run from the added level of intimacy I saw lingering in his eyes. Our friendship was dear to me, but I had been hurt deeply. Harry also scared the ever-living shit out of me sometimes. He flipped cars and burned down buildings. Regularly. There was the business with the nightmare that had worn his face, too. I could always feel the power around him like a tingling over my skin. I had seen men go mad with power, and Harry had a lot of power. I had a city to protect and people that counted on me. It was a conflict of interest. But slowly it simply wasn’t. Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden was a good man. He would deny it, but it was true. The wizard was the kind of man with a sense of right and wrong like a steel rod, who refused to bow to anyone else’s will. He didn’t want to lose anyone along the way and put himself on the line to prevent it. He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty but fought to save others from that need. He wasn’t without fault, and the mantle of the Winter Knight preyed on some of those faults. I knew it ate at him. Still, he was a beautiful, terrifying, good man.  
A good man who was in my bed and who had done things with me last night that I would not be telling my priest or my mother about. I was sore in the best way possible and I desperately needed to pee. I rolled out of Harry’s arms and looked back at him with a smile. He was sleeping hard and he looked peaceful. It was odd and I could suddenly see the similarities between him and Thomas more clearly. Still, as handsome as he was at peace, my preference leaned toward snarky, determined Dresden. That was typically the one that sent me cryptic messages, generally got me into trouble, and made my foolish little heart go pitter-pat. Stupid over a man. I sighed in happy defeat. I decided to pull on Harry’s shirt rather than gathering up my clothes. Heading toward the bathroom, I was about to check on Maggie when I abruptly sunk into a fighting stance ignoring my aching knee, placing my strong arm forward. 

Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, was in my kitchen. 

Winter Queen regarded me with an aloof appraisal. Her pearlescent nails clicked on my small kitchen table, pretty claws pretending to be decoration. She wore a deep blue skirt suit with a green scarf tied around her long pale neck. Her white hair was knotted into a high ponytail accentuating her sharp cheekbones. I had never officially met Her Highness the Dark and Terrifying but I knew her when I saw her. This was a woman with which you did not fuck. Unless you were a headstrong cocky wizard with a knack for impossible situations and a mouth that ran too fast for your brain. Her eyes shifted colors as she assessed me, staying preternaturally still. I eased out of my defensive stance, perfectly aware that nothing I could do would stop her if she meant harm. My brain threw together a vague memory of a conversation about guesting laws. I inclined my head toward her and said: “May I offer you something to drink, your Grace?”  
She gave me a bladed smile that might have been laced with something like approval. “Tea, if you have it.” So I put on the kettle which turned out to be a little complicated since the electricity was still out. I had matches and a gas stove though, so I made it work. I served the Sidhe Queen tea with milk and sugar. Her acceptance of the offering was a good-faith promise that she would not overtly harm any in my household, but there were loopholes to everything. The fae love a good workaround almost as much as they loved a good bargain. I still needed to pee, and I fleetingly wished I’d bothered with pants or at least underwear.  
“What brings the Winter Queen to my house today?” I quietly placing myself between the cold woman and the door to my room where Maggie slept.  
“It is past time that we met, Karrin Murphy,” she said with a low alto lilt. “Is there a title you’d prefer? Knight? Shieldmaiden? Defender? Sergeant? Lieutenant?” I wanted very much to pour hot tea down her tailored suit and kick her out of my house, but I maintained calm.  
“Ms. Murphy is just fine,” I said in my best cop voice. Brisk and efficient with just a hint fuck you for wasting my time thrown in for good measure.  
“Ah, yes, those other titles don’t quite fit do they?” she hummed. “They could have, but you gave them up. I would ask why, but you smell of him even now.” I flushed with anger.  
“It was an honor to meet you, Queen Mab. May I show you out?” I said through a tense smile, “Or was there something more?”  
Before I drew my next breath she was against me, one hand at my throat, the fingernail of her thumb pressed against my carotid artery. “You have compromised my Knight.” Her voice was still calm and measured but the threat behind her words was a neon sign.  
“I have done nothing of the sort.” I spat before I checked my anger, glaring at her.  
“Did you touch each other’s souls?” I hesitated, knowing we had and said nothing.  
She nodded and continued, “Did you pass a promise?”  
“No vows or promises made here,” I said with more confidence.  
“Hmmm,” she brought her hand to her chin and suddenly Harry’s voice came from her carefully painted lips, “I love you, Karrin.” I shivered and she continued in my own voice “Now that we’ve established that I love you, and you love me, what are you going to do about it?”  
I hissed, “I’d call those statements.” I was angry that she had seen what should have been private moments and indignant that she would use that against us. I couldn’t let that get in the way.  
“Declarations of love have a way of altering a person, especially a person like my knight.” She sighed, “But to the letter of law…” She closed her eyes and called up my voice again, “Will you to be here with me tonight, and whatever you can spare after tonight.” And Harry’s voice “Yes”.  
I set my mouth into a frown. “And so?”  
“And so,” she smiled with absolutely no warmth, “did you then bind this promise and these declarations in love?”  
“What the fuck does that even mean,” I was losing my patience.  
“Even so,” the Queen of Fairy raised a single white eyebrow. “A kiss can break spells, what do you think two bonded souls who have freely made promises to each other and sealed their accord physically can do?”  
My scalp prickled as the realization dawned. “We’ve broken Harry’s bond with you.”  
She gave me a smirk with a shake of her head. “No, simply weakened it.” She lessened the pressure on my neck. “Now, if he were to disobey a mandate… Well, there would certainly be consequences, but perhaps not severe ones.”  
“But you would not be held responsible…” the last light bulb blinked on in my brain. “I don’t like being a pawn in your games.”  
Her laugh was cold and deep, “I am surprised you are even on the board, Ms. Murphy. Most mortals are still playing tic-tac-toe.” She removed her hand from my throat and ran it casually through my short hair, still uncomfortably close to me. “Have a care for your future. The hunt starts at the full moon and the knight must participate. Promises were made. However,” she practically licked my ear, “the prey may be substituted if an appropriate alternative is available.”  
“Appropriate?” I asked.  
She shrugged, “Bound to my Knight by deep forces, like blood issue.”  
“Or souls,” I said with a slight sinking sensation. She smiled in vicious approval.  
“How is prey marked for the hunt?” I said not disguising my anger. She knew what she was doing.  
“Oh, my dear, most prey is simply in the right place at the right time,” she purred. “But of course for the Mark, the prey must be touched as young Maggie was,” she stretched cat-like extracting herself from my kitchen. “A simple, willing exchange between qualified prey is permissible by a willing agreement of the host and blood exchanged.”  
“So that’s the play? Trade me for Maggie?” She tilted her head, pretty face impassive. It was an elegant solution. Save face, save Harry’s daughter, and rid herself of me all with one play -- one move of a pawn. God, I hated the Sidhe. “I have a bargain, then,” I set my jaw and glared aware that her claw moved gently with my pulse. Her eyes were like onyx as they stared into mine. I thought of Maggie and the little light spirit that both bore an essential quality undeniably Harry. “If I do this, Harry’s children are off the menu for the Sidhe, no one touches them with so much as a thought without explicit formal permission.”  
She frowned. “Why would you possibly think I would bargain with you? What do you have that I want?”  
I gestured at us, “You want me to do this. I don’t know why and at the moment I don’t care.” I pressed my lips together, took a breath through my nose and continued,  
“If you are here, threatening me specifically, it must be important that I do this.” Impassive glare, “Which is probably why you didn’t just have me killed.”  
“Very well, if you can convince the hunters to accept you as the Mark, I will restrain the Winter Sidhe from all issue of Harry Dresden. However, I cannot speak for the other fae.” She stepped away from me to my back door, casually walking through it was if it wasn’t locked and warded. “Oh, and careful out here, seems the power is down for about 4 blocks in every direction from this spot exactly.” I caught her smile before I glanced back toward my spare room where Harry was still sleeping peacefully.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we get more smut, followed by a *little* plot. 
> 
> ** ALL RECOGNIZABLE CHARACTERS BELONG TO MR. BUTCHER**
> 
> All mistakes are mine.

Everyone knows that love changes a person. In my life, I have loved and been loved by a fair number of people. Love is the choice you make that changes the course of lives. It has tendrils that reach backward and forward in time, altering the future and shading the past. 

I woke up slowly next to the fireplace in Karrin Murphy’s living room. I pieced together my night. Maggie had been marked. I had a plan, now. It was a stupid one and I would probably die. Par for the course, at least Maggie might live. But then there had been Murphy. Stars and Stones she had looked at my soul and called me by my Name. By all that is good and holy, she had let me have her and had taken me in return. But… but she wasn’t here with me right now. Maybe she’d only wanted to comfort a broken soul for a night. That would be okay, I told myself. 

Before I could convince myself just how okay that would be, she appeared in the doorway, her short hair wet. She was wearing my t-shirt which came to her mid-thigh and hung off one petite shoulder. 

“Murph?” I heard the cobwebs of sleep in my voice. I couldn’t remember when I had slept so soundly. 

“Good morning, Harry,” she smiled at me like the cat that caught the canary as she walked to stand beside me. 

I let my eyes trail brazenly down her legs, “Karrin, I believe that shirt is mine,” I leaned toward her putting my hands around her waist and pulling her toward me. “I think I want it back.” She laughed full and hearty, placing a hand on her hip. 

“Too bad, I like you better without it,” I loved it when she flirted back. I pulled her down to my lap and she kissed me. “It makes your smart-ass mouth less annoying,” she said between kisses. 

I feigned offense, “I thought you liked my mouth.” For punctuation, I swirled my tongue to match hers. She hummed her approval. 

“I think I like your ass better,” she smirked straddling me. Fuck she played dirty. She placed her small hand on my chest above my rapidly beating heart and looked up at me with wide, bright eyes. She smiled so openly up at me that I had a surreal moment wondering if this was what it was like to be… well, not-me. But I am what I am. I was going to hurt her one way or another. I hated the thought that I might never hold her like this again. 

“Are you sure about this, Karrin?” I tried to put words to thoughts.“Last night was...:” the best thing that’s happened to me in years? The only way I ever want to go to sleep forever? Life-changing? “It was amazing, but it doesn’t have to mean anything you don’t want it to mean.” I half held my breath, “I’m fundamentally broken, I’m compromised, and you deserve better than that. There is every chance that when I walk out of your door -- every time I walk out your door -- I will never come back.” It was the truth, and it hurt. But it was also right to say. 

For a moment she looked at me searching my eyes. “Harry,” my Name buzzed against me again as she proved she knew me, “I love you. I want you broken bits, scars and all for whatever is left of my life or yours.” The deep hope in my chest swelled and I dared to want more, I dared to need. I gathered her into my arms smelling her softly scented shampoo and the minty toothpaste she’d recently used. A soul-deep joy nestled somewhere between my gut and my heart. I wanted to memorize it all, because in a very short while I had to leave her and I didn’t know if I’d come back. My daughter came first. I couldn’t let anything threaten her. I knew Karrin would understand that, support that. I couldn’t let myself push her behind a wall of protection because I had admitted how much I loved her. It wasn’t who she was. 

“Geez, you giant teddy bear,” her voice was a little strangled. “I need to breathe okay.” She ran her hands up and down my back sending little lightning strikes to my libido. “Maggie will be up in a little while; I thought I’d make pancakes.” She bit my shoulder lightly following it up with a kiss. She made fair points, but I wasn’t ready to leave this little bubble. I had spent enough time caring for my daughter to know she would sleep a fair bit longer if left to her own devices. 

“Right. Plans. Maggie,” I didn’t want to talk about the plan I’d already made. So instead I explored the smooth strong muscles of her back with my hands moving the shirt ever higher. “Just give me another hour, hmmm? Push the snooze button or something...” 

She moved against me, feeling my hardness, her mouth curving into a sharp smile. “Normal snooze button is 10 minutes.” 

“You can’t possibly ask me to do this properly with anything less than half an hour,” I challenged her to tell me ‘no’ by removing the shirt entirely and bending to flick her right nipple with my tongue. I remembered the way she responded to that last night, and her response this morning was no less eager. 

“To clarify, thirty minutes?” she asked. I ignored the question and laid her down on the bed, already tracing a delicate path down across the planes of her body leaving a hand at her breast. I lifted her legs to my shoulders before I found her eyes. I could smell her arousal, and I wanted to drown in it. 

“I want to taste you, Karrin. Is that okay?” She immediately broke out in goosebumps and her beautiful blue eyes dilated. 

“God, yes.” It is official, there is nothing sexier than enthusiastic consent. I held her eyes as I licked her wetness until she tipped her head back with a moan when I reached the bundle of nerves at her apex. She bucked her hips driving my tongue deeper into her. Her light cry made me hum in approval and she shifted again. I put my arm over her hips to help control her movement a little while I did my work. She arched off the bed with ever more frantic little sounds. When she was nearly mad with want, I used my fingers to send her bowing into me, spasming through her climax. She yelped my name almost loudly enough for me to worry about waking Maggie. Then she lay gasping for air and I stared at her with undisguised lust. I couldn’t resist touching her, kissing her. 

“Dresden, when this business with the Hunt is over I may need to sequester you to a bedroom for a few days,” If I survived this, I planned to take Karrin Murphy somewhere warm and very private for at least a week, maybe more like a month. But that was a conversation for ‘if’. 

“I won’t object to that,” I said simply. “By my count, we still have about 10 minutes,” bringing her to my mouth for a kiss, “I’m not done with you yet.”

Her face darkened with a challenging smile and she threw her leg over my hips, pushing up and perching over my very sensitive erection. The muscles of her arms and shoulders struck a fine relief against the lean lines of her pale skin. “Uh-uh. It’s my turn, wizard,” her body shifted so slightly but I felt her warmth and wetness against me. I wasn’t finished exploring her yet, and I had very good plans. 

“I don’t think that was part of the deal, Kar…” my sentence was cut off along with the rest of my thoughts, as Karrin smoothly slid herself all the way down my shaft. My vision went white for a moment and I saw stars. I scrambled to find complex math problems or memory exercises, anything to delay the inevitable for a respectable amount of time. The thing that finally worked was a complex potion list. Some part of me noticed she was analyzing my reactions, but it was all I could do not to lose myself in her far too quickly. I used my long arms to reach out and caress her again. Her back arched driving me even deeper into her warmth and drawing a breathless oath from my lips. She changed her pace and angle following my reactions, and eventually, no potion list in the world could keep me from my edge. I joined her driving to the end and past it. Sinking into satisfaction, I watched her breathing heavily a smile of triumph across her face. Her thumb made slow circles on the muscle of my lower stomach and her eyes held mine. 

“Why didn’t we do this for the last 10 years?” I asked pulling her down into my embrace. 

“Believe me, Dresden, if I had known you’d be this good I’d have cornered you in a dark room ages ago.” Her laughter would have melted an iceberg with its warmth. 

“Liar,” I huffed. “I need to shower. Any chance of hot water,” I asked thinking how long it had been since I had even a warm shower. 

“No dice wizard boy, for some reason the electricity is out four blocks around this point exactly.” Well, that was a kick in the teeth. 

“Shit,” I sat up and started directing my thoughts from things outside the bedroom. “Hells bells, Karrin, four blocks?” 

She wrapped her arms around me and pressed her face against my back. “No one will be hurt by a few hours without power, Harry.” She kissed his shoulder blade. “I’ll make them all ‘I’m sorry’ cookies if it’ll make you feel better.” It was a tempting idea, if for no reason beyond leftovers, but that wasn’t what was nagging at my conscience. 

“It’s not that, love.” I took her small hand in mine and noticed the small upturn of her mouth at the endearment, “I shouldn’t have that much power. Sure, I could short-out small things with a little effort, or mess with major things over a long time, but that’s…a lot of power” I tried to calculate what it would have taken for me to intentionally disrupt even one block, “ especially unfocused power.” A spike of cold fear went through me at the thought that I could do something like that with a simple loss of control. “Winter is just unpredictable.”

“Harry,” she hesitated and watched her work out what to say. “I’m not sure anything last night was The Mantle.” I faced her fully confused by her assertation. “After we...umm gazed with each other, I didn’t feel any of the cold I can usually identify as Winter. You were,” she paused again before shrugging, “You were you. You didn’t pull back, or go violent. It was just you.” 

“No, normal old run-of-the-mill wizards can’t subconsciously shut down city blocks. Maybe the Merlin could, or one of the higher members of the council.” 

“Well, you’ve been thrown into the lion's den a hell of a lot. That’s usually how people get stronger.” She didn’t add or die to the statement, but it was there in implication. She started nudging me toward the door as she spoke. “You needed a shower and I needed to wash-up a little too.” We took cold showers with weak water pressure softly chatting. 

“Funny story,” she said as I wrapped a towel around myself. “Your boss was here earlier.” 

“What?” My vision blurred as rage colored my world. I was about to make a very stupid decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments feed the plot gremlins. Thank you to those of you who have commented already! Your kind words are magical!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie is observant. Karrin makes a move and takes a gamble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Warning* Plot ahead. Beloved smut will have to wait. 
> 
> Also, I'm sorry to have abandoned lovely readers for so long. Life is life and I got distracted. But I'm BACK!
> 
> Full disclosure, I'm entirely sure how old Maggie is supposed to be. I can math, but Butcher seems to write her younger than I would think she could be. I just chose an age so try not to throw too many pitchforks.

“What did she do? Why didn’t you wake me?” Harry tilted my face up examining it as if answers would be written there somewhere. Then, he glanced at the door to my bedroom before moving with me in his arms as if my weight was nothing. He burst through the door, hunting for his daughter. 

“Harry,” I managed to plant my feet and twist my hips to counterbalance him. “She is fine.” I hissed at him. I realized that he was a little wild, his self-control still lowered. “Hey, idiot, you are still naked and she’s still asleep. I would never let Mab touch her.” 

He snarled at me, “What could you have done about it?” 

I reached under the mattress and pulled out the coal-fired steel gauntlet that Charity Carpenter had given me after she’d seen Harry back from the dead baring Fae magic. She hadn’t given a reason; I hadn’t needed one. I slapped him across the face with the metal glove. Hard. He yelped and I heard Maggie shift behind me. 

“I’d do what I had to, now pull yourself together, Dresden.” I tried not to flinch when his cheek was slightly ashen when he faced me again. 

“I’m sorry, Karrin,” he shook himself a little. “I didn’t mean to… I think I just... You have no idea how devious that  _ thing _ is.” I tossed a blanket at him from the bed, then kissed his cheek. 

“I just don’t want you to scare Maggie,” I whispered. I knew she was awake now. “If this is gonna work, I need us to be a team, okay?” He looked guiltily at me then back at the bed. The little girl was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and looking at us warily. Mouse rose and stretched, then came over and bumped my hand meaningfully before heading to the door. 

“I’m thinking Mouse wants me to walk him, huh?” I looked at Maggie for permission. Mouse was her companion and her protector. I wouldn’t take him anywhere without her okay. She nodded, her big brown eyes perplexed but accepting. 

“He usually wants my dad to take him for walks,” she said pursing her lips. I saw the very edges of Harry’s lips curl when she called him ‘dad’. That was new for her. New for both of them I suppose. 

I gave her a conspiratorial look, “Don’t tell your dad, but Mouse likes me better.” 

Maggie smiled but shook her head no. “Mouse only likes people who love my dad or me, so you must be one of those.”

_ Okay _ … outwitted by a 9-year-old before 10 am. It was going to be one of those days. I knelt on the bed and kissed her forehead. “I’m both of those, sweetie.” Mouse put his head in my lap and I scratched his ear. The little girl gave me a quick hug and nodded. I looked at Harry. He was staring at us, still wrapped in the blanket. His eyes were a little watery. 

I patted her knee and got up, hunting out jogging pants and a warm sweater for the cool morning air. I saw Harry go for the small bag of extra clothes he’d kept at my house for years. “I’m taking Mouse out, sweet girl,” I tugged gently at a lock of Maggie’s hair, and she laughed. “There is ice cream melting in the freezer, be sure to give your dad a little.” 

“Hey, I thought you said pancakes earlier,” Dresden pouted. 

“That was before you hit the snooze button,” I said with a wicked smile. 

He flushed slightly but returned my grin with gusto. Mouse bumped my leg and I took the hint. I jogged with the pony-sized lion masquerading as a dog for about six blocks allowing time for potty breaks. The big mutt lolled his tongue at me loping in an easy gate. My knee throbbed but pushed through the stiffness. I stopped at the gas station near the precinct I used to pass on the way to work. They let me make a phone call. Harry would have to forgive me later. We were going to need a babysitter. 

_ 8 hours later _

I stood before the Wild Sidhe and let myself be afraid. It wasn’t hard; they were terrifying. They were made to kill -- to hunt. Clicking teeth and guttural growls mixed with hisses and laughter around me. 

“Woman, you are under the aegis of the Winter Court,” the Erlking’s power hurt my teeth as it hit me. He was not mitigated by the mortal realm here, nor was he pulling his proverbial punches the way he had on our last encounter in Chicago. “Why do you come before me,” he turned his antlered head from side to side. “The Hunter’s Moon is this night, I cannot be held responsible for what happens to prey during the hunt.” The pink-orange sky highlighted the importance of time as I pressed onward. 

“Erlking, I come to offer myself in the place of Margaret Angelica Dresden,” I felt the gaze of several of the sidhe snap to me. “I will be more worthy of your efforts, than a child,” I dared to look him in the eyes. He laughed in a ferocious tenor. 

“Why would I do that, tender one? What are you to the Knight of Winter in whose honor this Hunt is held?” I hear the slightest inflection on  _ honor _ and gritted my teeth. 

“To the Winter Knight, I am nothing. To Harry Dresden I am more,” I countered watching him carefully. The large Fae rose from his throne of brambles and stalked toward me. He moved with careless grace and efficiency, covering the ground quietly. His mottled skin disguised his movements even in full light of two blazing fires and several torches. A single enormous hand wrapped around my upper body and drew me into the circle before the throne. 

“Little fierce one,” he growled hot breath on me, rancid, “who are you to the wizard?” 

“We are bound, one to another,” I said, very sure. The Erlking circled me with prowling steps. 

“Not by blood. That isn’t enough, fair one,” his voice was quiet next to my ear. Then he inhaled my scent and every alarm bell in my head began ringing. I knew there was a wolf at my neck, but I also knew that flinching now was certain death. “Oh, sweet fox, there is something you didn’t tell!” A blob of wet spital hit my shoulder and my heart rate rocketed. “Or perhaps do not know…” He stepped back and gave me a terrifying smile filled with tiger teeth. “I find your exchange acceptable.”

He held out a hand tipped with bear claws and I presented my forearm. A light touch of his palm and a flash of light and the mark that had been Maggie’s was mine. I set mind toward surviving the next 11 hours and allowed myself a moment of victory. Maggie would be safe. 

“Be it known, Sidhe of tooth and claw, tonight we hunt fine prey in honor of the Winter Knight,” growls and cries filled the glen and creatures circled me, sniffing the air. Some were brazen enough to approach too close and the Erlkonig batted them away. All at once the attention of the glen shifted from me. Mab stepped into my line of sight followed by Harry. The Ice Queen was certainly dressed for combat, wearing a deep blue glittering fabric formed into long fitted pants with a lighter top made of iridescent light blues and whites, a half-circle skirt fanned out behind her. Her white hair was in a high horse tail plait that whipped as she strode across the glen. Harry, on the other hand, stalked, casting his eyes this way and that scowling. Though he wore his black duster and carried his staff, I could see faerie armor of fine make beneath the black leather. His very presence was a threat. I loved my wizard, but I never forgot how down-right-goddamn frightening he could be. He was a force, and the mantle he bore added to that power tenfold. His scars were a testament to his skill and cunning written on his body. A coward would have few and a fool would be dead. None but the strongest Sidhe would face him directly, and they would only do so under duress. Of course, the Wild Hunt changed all the rules. 

The great horned hunter inclined his head toward his guests and they did the same. “Lady, Knight I’m pleased to offer a change in challenge level. In an hour, we will be hunting under the full blood moon. In honor of Winter’s pledge, a most precious tribute had been chosen.” I saw Dresden’s face twist in a snarl, “Alas, the kit is tender meat and would have made a short hunt,” his grip on the staff was white-knuckled and frost drifted down from his coat. “But a fox has come forward to save us of her own free will.,” I put on my bravest face, as I watched realization dawn on Harry. “Willing prey is always the rarest. Come honored guests and scent well. The game will soon be gone to hedge and given ground to run.” 

His dark eyes turned to me.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which fairies are fairies and Harry is... Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience!

I have lived long enough to know that there is very little room in a wizard’s existence to show weakness. Add a Winter Knight’s mantle to the mix and you half the acceptable vulnerability. Queen Mab had neither time, nor the inclination to tolerate a weakened flank, and she would gleefully kill you herself before leaving Winter open to attack. The Wilde Sidhe were just as vicious, though certainly more transparent about it. They wore their fangs openly rather than behind a veneer of beauty. That is not to say they were not also beautiful. Their attraction was like a tiger's draw. It is lithe and graceful but at no point do you forget it is a predator. The High Sidhe of the Courts, however, were poisoned flowers. They advertised one thing and delivered another. 

When I answered Mab’s summons, she dressed me in fine hunting leathers with ornate winter scenes carved into the breastplate. She let me keep my coat, dubbing it a  _ calling card.  _ Her glacial eyes made contact with mine for a solid two seconds before I shifted my gaze. I didn’t know if the Sidhe Queen had a soul, but I did  _ not  _ want to see it. 

“A transfer of marks has been permitted, my Knight,” her perfectly painted lips were the color of frosted cranberries. Her teeth a sharpened warning. “Permissions are granted to those in my good graces,  _ vassal _ .” 

“Listen, Queenie, if--,” my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and the air was forced from my lungs. 

“This is not a negotiation, Knight,” she said, smoothing her coat. “You represent me. You  _ will _ hunt, and you will hunt  _ well _ .” I gritted my and willed my lungs to expand. Against all my presumptions, they did. 

The Queen of Air and Darkness narrowed her eyes and flicked her finger, releasing me. “I expect you to be ruthless in your pursuit, Mr. Dresden.” She raised one white eyebrow. “If something is in your way, don’t swerve.” 

I know what it feels like to be pointed at someone like a cannon. It felt a lot like this. I nodded and silently wondered who she wanted to cause pain -- other than me. 

Without a word, Mab turned and nodded at Molly. I hadn’t seen her there a moment before. The Winter Lady did not look at me but opened a Way. Mab stepped through, her entourage following. I lingered until last and as I stepped through, Molly spoke. 

“Go get ‘em, boss.” She closed the Way before I could turn back to look at her. 

Mab beckoned me with an ice-tipped talon. I took up a position at her left, as was the right of the Knight, and we stepped in the thick of Wilde Sidhe. Sidhe parted for the Winter Queen and Knight, and Mab held a prim hand out. 

“I sanction this hunt and send as my emissary and rightful representative, Harry Dresden, Winter Knight.” She gestured for me to step forward. Others backed away as I approached with a glare. 

The Erlking stood his ground with a slight incline of his antlered head. “Your majesty, Sir Knight, I am pleased to offer a change in challenge level. In a few hours, we will be hunting under the full blood moon. In honor of Winter’s pledge, a most precious tribute had been chosen.” 

I saw white. They were talking about Maggie. Even though I knew she was safely away from her, my instincts roared to challenge him, supported fully by the Mantle of the Winter Knight. Somehow I hung onto sanity. 

“Alas, the kit is tender meat and would have made a short hunt,” I gripped my staff hard enough to hear a pop. “But a fox has come forward to save us of her own free will. Willing prey is always the rarest. Come honored guests and scent well. The game will soon be gone to hedge and given ground to run.” 

He stepped back to reveal Karrin Murphy planted in the middle of the meadow. Her blue eyes met mine like a hammar colliding with an anvil. I couldn’t show weakness. Not here. I was expecting one of a few allies, but not her. I let Winter cloud my mind, freezing the panic into anger. I could control anger.  _ Anything _ was better than Maggie being here. 

I was moving forward before I realized it, on instinct with the rest of the court, save Mab. I didn’t need to scent Murphy. I could remember her taste on my tongue from just this morning. I needed to drive others away as much as possible. 

I drew myself up to my full height and pulled some of the power of the mantle. The power was cold and driving him to the hunt. The other Winter Sidhe fell away. Given extra space, I leaned in close. Winter flared and growled that she was prey. It took a force of will to tamp it down. 

“This was  _ not _ the plan, Murph,” I hissed. 

“Things didn’t  _ go to plan _ , Harry. This is the best I could do. Everyone else is safe, it’s just you and me with our necks out, and I  _ have _ to be okay with that.” She looked at me with fire in her gaze that covered her fear by the barest of margins. “You need to  _ get _ okay with it.”

“How did things get so fucked so quickly,” I said gritting my teeth through the frustration. 

“Plan’s the same, love,” she gave me a tight smile, as my heart did jumping jacks at the endearment, then plummeted at the situation. “Use the mantle, find me first.” 

“But I could kill you if I can’t control it in the heat of the hunt,” her eyes flickered to the Sidhe. “And they  _ will _ kill you if I don’t use everything in my power to find you first.” 

“Then find me first,” she kissed me quickly, and I tasted blood, “and don’t lose control.” 

I backed away, terrified that some part of me wanted to pull her down into the muddy grass and do any number of lurid things to her. 

The first horn sounded, a signal for the prey to be released, and Karrin ran. I forced myself to look down. I had tapped Winter’s power and now it had its roots deep into me. That savage power called not only to that part of me that desire to hunt and kill and fuck and survive but also to the part of me that declared dominance. Nothing would stop the call to the hunt when the second horn sounded, but I could direct my rage at a better target. This was not an organized, cooperative hunt like the one a couple of years ago. This was every man for himself, to the Victor goes the spoils, there is no second place. 

As the first notes of the horn pierced the night air, I called a power I had never used. I called darkness -- true darkness. The deepest depths of moonless nights and doused candles whose wicks leave not even embers for light came to my call. The lesser Wild Sidhe sent up a chaotic cacophony of angry growls, yips, and howls. As a servant of Winter, I could pull on the power of the Queen of Darkness. I could see as well as I had before the black descended. So could many of the Greater Wild Sidhe. They streamed out of the conjured darkness alongside me. 

Then, ahead of me, I heard an unusual sound -- a glorious sound. The engine of a large motorcycle gave a low, throaty growl. I bore my teeth in a wild grin. How very like Karrin to even the odds. 

I let myself draw from the Winter Mantel once again and poured on the speed. I  _ would  _ find her first. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review if you have the time! Kudos are always appreciated!!

**Author's Note:**

> Second chapter coming soon! Please review if you can.


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